Telecommunications networks have developed from connection-oriented, circuit-switched (CO-CS) systems, e.g., such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN), utilizing constant bit-rate, predefined point-to-point connections to connectionless, packet-switched (CNLS) systems, such as the Internet, utilizing dynamically configured routes characterized by one or more communication channels divided into arbitrary numbers of variable bit-rate channels. With the increase in demand for broadband communications and services, telecommunications service providers are beginning to integrate long-distance, large-capacity optical communication networks with these traditional CO-CS and CNLS systems. Typically, these optical communication networks utilize multiplexing transport techniques, such as time-division multiplexing (TDM), wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), and the like, for transmitting information over optical fibers. However, an increase in demand for more flexible, resilient transport is driving optical communication networks toward high-speed, large-capacity packet-switching transmission techniques, wherein switching and transport functions occur in completely optical states via one or more packets. Accordingly, as these optical communication networks continue to grow, there is an increasing need for telecommunication service providers to develop fast failure recovery techniques to protect working optical communication paths from experiencing downtime as a result of link and/or equipment failure.
Therefore, there is a need for an approach that provides packet-switched optical networks with efficient fault recovery techniques.